The Salinan are a Native American tribe whose ancestral territory is in the southern

Salinas Valley The Salinas Valley (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Valle de Salinas'') is one of the major valleys and most productive Agriculture, agricultural regions in California. It is located west of the San Joaquin Valley and south of San Francisco Bay and ...

and the

Santa Lucia Range The Santa Lucia Range (sæntə luˈsiːə) or Santa Lucia Mountains is a rugged mountain range in coastal Central California, running from Carmel southeast for to the Cuyama River in San Luis Obispo County. The range is never more than fro ...

in the Central Coast of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Today, the Salinan governments are now working toward federal tribal recognition from the

Bureau of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States List of United States federal agencies, federal agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior, Department of the Interior. It is responsible for im ...

Geographic origins

There were two major divisions and one subgroup. From north to south, the ''Antoniano'' lived in the lower part of the Salinas Valley (which flows south to north), near the future site of two missions: (

Mission San Antonio de Padua Mission San Antonio de Padua is a Spanish missions in California, Spanish mission established by the Franciscan order in present-day Monterey County, California, Monterey County, California, near the present-day town of Jolon, California, Jolon. ...

and Mission San Miguel Arcángel). The ''Miguelino'' lived on the upper course of the Salinas River, and to the south near Slates Hot Springs, Junipero Serra Peak, and Soledad. There were also a ''Playano'' subgroup on the

Pacific Coast Pacific coast may be used to reference any coastline that borders the Pacific Ocean. Geography Americas North America Countries on the western side of North America have a Pacific coast as their western or south-western border. One of th ...

in the vicinity of what is now Lucia and

San Simeon San Simeon ( Spanish: ''San Simeón'', meaning "St. Simon") is an unincorporated community on the Pacific coast of San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Its position along State Route 1 is about halfway between Los Angeles and San ...

. Salinans were

Hunter-gatherer A hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living in a community, or according to an ancestrally derived Lifestyle, lifestyle, in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local naturally occurring sources, esp ...

s and, like most other California tribes, were organized in small groups with little centralized political structure. They left shell

midden A midden is an old dump for domestic waste. It may consist of animal bones, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human oc ...

s behind indicating that they lived in the area in numbers along the coast. Their main diet during the summer consisted of fish and shellfish, evidenced by the fine particles of shell present in the soil for a depth of several feet in areas where the Indians camped. The Salinan named the peak ''Pimkolam''. The Wagon Caves rock formation about northwest of present-day Jolon is an archeological site that was used by the Salinan Antonianos subtribe who researchers believe occupied at least two villages in the area, an older site dating to approximately 450 A.D. and a later, protohistoric site with dates ranging from about 1450 to 1650 A.D. Archeologists have found a stemmed biface,

lithic flake In archaeology, a lithic flake is a "portion of rock (geology), rock removed from an objective piece by percussion or pressure,"Andrefsky, W. (2005) ''Lithics: Macroscopic Approaches to Analysis''. 2d Ed. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press and ...

s, shell beads, and non-human bones, as well as shell, bone, flaked stone, fire-affected rock, charred seeds, and mortars at the cave site. The rock overhangs and caves have fire-scarred roofs that bear evidence of occupancy over hundreds of years. The Wagon Cave Research Natural Area of contains diverse stands of Valley Oaks of varying ages and densities and has been recommended as a Research Natural Areas within the Los Padres National Forest.

Etymology

The tribe's name is taken from the Salinas River, as the Spanish did not understand if the people had a name for themselves. The people's own name is "Te'po'ta'ahl" or "People of the Oaks," according to current tribal leadership. C. Hart Merriam called these people the ''En-'ne-sen'' on advice from one

informant An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a "snitch", "rat", "canary", "stool pigeon", "stoolie", "tout" or "grass", among other terms) is a person who provides privileged information, or (usually damaging) information inten ...

; ''En-'ne-sen'' was the native word for the Salinan headquarters.

Language

The Salinan language, spoken until the 1950s is a

language isolate A language isolate is a language that has no demonstrable genetic relationship with any other languages. Basque in Europe, Ainu and Burushaski in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, Haida and Zuni in North America, Kanoê in South America, and Tiwi ...

. It may be a part of the Hokan language family. Sapir included it in a subfamily of Hokan, along with

Chumash Chumash may refer to: *Chumash (Judaism), a Hebrew word for the Pentateuch, used in Judaism *Chumash people, a Native American people of southern California *Chumashan languages, Indigenous languages of California See also

* Pentateuch (dis ...

and Seri; this classification has found its way into more recent encyclopedias and presentations of language families, but serious supporting evidence has never been presented.

Population

Estimates for the pre-contact populations of most native groups in California have varied substantially. Alfred L. Kroeber put the 1770 population of the Salinan as 3,000. Sherburne F. Cook similarly estimated that there were at least 700 Salinans. The 2000 United States Census reported a total population of Salinan people as 681.

Notes

References

* * Cook, Sherburne F. 1976. ''The Conflict between the California Indian and White Civilization''. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. * Kroeber, Alfred L. 1925. ''Handbook of the Indians of California''. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin No. 78. Washington, D.C. * Hester, Thomas R. 1978. ''Salinan'', in ''Handbook of North American Indians'', vol. 8 (California). William C. Sturtevant, and Robert F. Heizer, eds. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1978. / 0160045754, pages 500–504. * Marlett, Stephen A. 2008. The Seri-Salinan connection revisited. ''International Journal of American Linguistics'' 74.3:393-399. * Sapir, Edward. 1925. The Hokan affinity of Subtiaba in Nicaragua. ''American Anthropologist'' 27: (3).402-34, (4).491-527.
National Public Radio segment by Allison Herrera, December 13, 2017
{{authority control Indigenous peoples of California Mission Indians Salinas River (California) Salinas Valley Santa Lucia Range History of Monterey County, California History of San Luis Obispo County, California People from Monterey County, California People from San Luis Obispo County, California